State of California

In May, the Vanguard wrote a story saying “Most Elected Officials Avoiding the Krovoza-Wolk Fray For Now.”  At the time we wrote that “within the city of Davis, most elected officials have decided to avoid the fray.  The Vanguard was able to talk to nearly all of the elected officials and could identify just three committed to Dan Wolk.  However, one is his mother, Senator Lois Wolk, and a second is Cass Sylvia, the Public Guardian, married to Craig Reynolds, who is Lois Wolk’s chief of staff and Dan Wolk’s likely campaign consultant.”

That has changed and changed quickly.  We reported in May that Mariko Yamada, whose seat the two are seeking and a Davis resident, told the Vanguard in a statement that it was widely known that Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza was Yamada’s choice to succeed her.  With her candidate out, she indicated the race to be “wide open” and that she would not be making any early endorsements.

In a move, that figures to make waves in the burgeoning battle over the Assembly, the Vanguard received a release from the Wolk campaign indicating that Supervisor Don Saylor, a two-term former city councilmember and briefly Davis’ mayor had put his support behind Dan Wolk.

“Earlier today in a letter to his supporters, Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor announced that he is endorsing Davis Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk to represent the 4^th District in the California State Assembly. Saylor joins more than 80 other community, education, public safety and other leaders from all over the district supporting Wolk, including his colleagues on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, Mike McGowan and Jim Provenza,” the release stated.

Late last week, Lake County Supervisor Anthony Farrington announced via Facebook that he was dropping out of the Assembly Race for the Fourth Assembly District.  Supervisor Farrington, who had not announced any fundraising back in July, leaves a four-person race at this point for the seat vacated by Mariko Yamada.

Still in the race are two from Napa County and two from Yolo County.  Matt Pope, who is backed by Assemblymember Yamada as well as State Senator Noreen Evans for whom he works as a District Representative, and Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd are running from Napa County.  Davis Mayor Joe Krovoza and Davis Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk are running from Yolo County.

In what could be another defining moment in the burgeoning Fourth District Assembly race, Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza, himself at one point considered a frontrunner, announced today that he has endorsed Davis Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk for State Assembly.

According to a release from the Wolk campaign, “Provenza joins a growing list of more than 60 local elected officials in the 4^th Assembly District who have already endorsed Wolk.”

This week came the surprising announcement that incumbent Assemblymember Mariko Yamada was not going to endorse one of her fellow Davis candidates, either Joe Krovoza or Dan Wolk, but instead would endorse the relatively inexperienced and certainly unknown candidate on this side of the district, Matt Pope.

However, as we evaluated the decisions before the assemblymember, the move is not nearly so surprising at all.  When we finally spoke to her late on Thursday afternoon, she said that the initial article, for the most part, got it right.

While some apparently saw the number of appearances outgoing Assemblymember Mariko Yamada was making with Napa County Planning Commissioner Matt Pope as a sign, the move by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada to endorse Mr. Pope as her successor still seemed to catch many in the Davis community off guard.

“After meeting with each of the candidates running for my seat, there is only one who I believe has what it takes to fairly represent the expansive 4th Assembly District, and that candidate is Napa County Planning Commissioner Matt Pope,” Mariko Yamada said.

You always tell yourself that you cannot read much into early returns – after all, we have nearly a year left until someone actually votes for one of these candidates.  However, there is a big winner in these early campaign finance statements and that is Davis Mayor Joe Krovoza.

Let me throw in a paragraph or two of caution here.  First, Dan Wolk remains a very formidable candidate.  He would probably hesitate at the label frontrunner, but when your mother is the state senator and has been in the state legislature for 12 years, and before that was a county supervisor and a mayor of Davis, you have to be considered the favorite.

The first test of the viability of anyone’s candidacy is the first reporting period, and while there is a long way to go and things will change, one thing is clear from the first filing: Joe Krovoza is a serious and viable challenger for the State Assembly District seat vacated by Mariko Yamada who is termed out after six years.

The Krovoza campaign amassed $118,161.62 in contributions from the January 1 to June 30 period.  Davis Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk was second with $49,856.62.  Napa County Planning Commission and District Representative to Noreen Evans, Matt Pope, amassed about $20,000 and neither Bill Dodd nor Anthony Farrington reported any contributions.